Other
Scientific paper
May 2004
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004agusmsa51b..03r&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2004, abstract #SA51B-03
Other
0343 Planetary Atmospheres (5405, 5407, 5409, 5704, 5705, 5707), 3367 Theoretical Modeling, 5409 Atmospheres: Structure And Dynamics, 5445 Meteorology (3346), 6225 Mars
Scientific paper
Our understanding of the Martian atmosphere, and the embodiment of this understanding in GCM models, sits part way between that of the Earth's atmosphere and that of the other planets in the solar system. Compared to the Earth, it is incomplete even as it applies to certain basic, elementary components and it is studied by a very limited community. Compared to the other planets in the solar system, most elements of the circulation are understood in outline, the data sets are vast and rich, and a number of well-staffed, competing modeling groups exist. Given this ``middle sibling'' status of Martian atmospheric science, an obvious issue arises as to whom it should be compared: Is the paucity of our understanding compared to the Earth motivation for redoubled efforts, or advanced state of knowledge cause to refocus on other planetary bodies? In this presentation, I will review the components of the Martian circulation and the progress that has been made in their understanding through the synthesis of data with GCMs. I will also review the aspects of Martian climate that uniquely influence the atmosphere. These include the lofting of dust by large-scale winds and thermal convection, resulting in a permanent (if varying) dust haze that significantly increases atmospheric temperatures, and occasionally leading to the generation of global dust storms. The spontaneous generation of such storms in a GCM has only very recently been accomplished. The condensation of the major atmospheric constituent (CO2) onto the surface to form massive seasonal ice caps in the frigid polar winter also generates a significant climate signal and a pole-to-pole condensation flow. Finally, Mars possesses an active water cycle with the development of clouds, formation of seasonal water ice deposits, and storage of water in the near-sub surface as adsorbate. The water cycle is fundamentally driven by exchange with a residual water ice cap at the northern (and not the southern) pole. Such asymmetries abound in the Martian atmosphere and climate system - some are tied to the planetary eccentricity and some to the difference in topographic elevation of the two hemispheres. Many significant questions remain open regarding how these climate system elements interoperate and how they might have changed the face of Mars as forcing, due to abundance of greenhouse gases or the pattern of insolation associated with particular obliquity or orbital parameter values, have changed.
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